History, winners and venues of Hero Indian Open

This article is about one of the most prestigeous golf tournament in India. Currently the part of the Asian tour, it was started in year 1964.
The tournament offers biggest prize money by any Asian tour tournament with Iskandar Johor Open is the other.

Hero Indian Open - a golf tournament in India

Hero Indian Open is a golf tournament played at Delhi Golf Club (India). The tournament is the part of Asian Tour since 1970.

HistoryThe tournament was first held in 1964. Five time winner of the Major Championship, Peter Thomsan was the winner of the inaugural event of the tournament. He also won the tournament two more times in year 1966 and 1976.

The first Indian to won this tournament was Prem Gopal Sethi, who did it in year 1965 (the second edition of the tournament). Other Indian like Ali Sher, Firoz Ali, Arjun Atwal, Vijay Kumar and Jyoti Randhawa has also won the tournament. Peter Thomsan and Jyoti Randhawa are the two players who become winner for three times, most in Hero Indian Open. In 1970, the tournament was included in the Asian Golf Circuit and there the popularity of the tournament widely increases.

Here is the list of winners of this tournaments -

1964 - Peter Thomsan

1965 - Prem Gopal Sethi

1966 - Peter Thomsan

1967 - Kenji Hosoishi

1968 - Kenji Hosoishi

1969 - Ben Arda

1970 - Chen Chien Chung

1971 - Graham Marsh

1972 - Brian Jones

1973 - Graham Marsh

1974 - Kuo Chie Hsiung

1975 - Ted Ball

1976 - Peter Thomsan

1977 - Brian Jones

1978 - Bill Brask

1979 - Gaylord Burrows

1980 - Kurt Cox

1981 - Payne Stewart

1982 - Hsu Sheng-san

1983 - J. Takahashi

1984 - Rafael Alarcon

1985 - Tony Grimes

1986 - Lu Hsi-chuen

1987 - Brian Tennyson

1988 - Lu Chien-soon

1989 - Remi Bouchard

1990 - Andrew Debusk

1991 - Ali Sher

1992 - Start Ginn

1993 - Ali Sher

1994 - Emn Aubrey

1995 - Jim Rutledge

1996 - Hidezumi Shirataka

1997 - Ed Fryatt

1998 - Firoz Ali

1999 - Arjun Atwal

2000 - Jyoti Randhawa

2001 - Thongchai Jaidee

2002 - Vijay Kumar

2003 - Mike Cunning

2004 - Mardan Mamat

2005 - Thaworn Wiratchant

2006 - Jyoti Randhawa

2007 - Jyoti Randhawa

2008 - Liang Wen-Chong

2009 - Chinnaswamy Muniyappa

2010 - Rikard Karlberg

2011 - David Gleeson

Venues and Prize Money of the tournament

Delhi Golf Club is been the venue of the Hero Indian Open for several years. But the tournament has been also organized on other venues like DLF Golf and Country Club, Classic Golf Resort (Gurgaon), and Royal Calcutta Golf Club.

The tournament is currently offering the largest prize money (US$ 1.25 million) by any Asian Tour tournament with Iskandar Johor Open (Malaysia) is the other.